A Dallas Stars Blog

Archive for February, 2009

The Stars got Steve Begin in a trade yesterday for Doug Janik. Begin seems like a good guy – he’s a left-handed shot (because we don’t have enough of those) and he can play all forward positions. He’s listed as a center, but I imagine he’ll get switched to a wing once Richards and Petersen get back from broken bone land.

He automatically gets a few extra points from me because he doesn’t wear a visor. I know all players wear visors/shields before they get to the NHL, and with all the facial injuries, more players are opting to keep wearing them, but I like it when the guys don’t wear visors.

He’s been a scratch for the Habs for the past two weeks or so, but judging from fan reactions, it seems like he was a fan favorite. His past teams include the Flames and Canadiens, plus a few stints for their respective AHL teams. It looks like his best season was in 2005-06 for Montreal when he played 76 games, had 23 points, was +9, and had 113 penalty minutes.

He seems excited to be in Dallas (where he probably won’t be scratched every game);

Q: How does it feel to be in Dallas?

A: I’m pretty excited. I can’t wait to skate with the guys. I want to get to know the guys. I can’t say I was surprised, because I was expecting it, but it’s always a shocker when the coach tells you that you’ve been traded. I’m very, very excited and can’t wait to start.

Overall, he seems to be a nice guy, and hopefully we’ll get to see him in against Anaheim tomorrow afternoon. He says he plays a gritty do-or-die style, which fits in well with the Stars. He’ll also be running into his former team pretty quickly since we play the Canadiens next Sunday.

Best of luck to Janik. I’m not sure what he can to help Montreal, but they definitely need some stability in ANY position, so maybe he can provide some of that.

The only sad part of this news is that it means Jeffy will probably not be making his return to the Stars since we just picked up another center. We still miss you Jeffy!

Sorry for completely vanishing for a while; school and getting all of my stuff done to try to get into OSU’s vet school for the fall has been crazy…I promise I will do my best to keep up with my blogging duties from now on! 🙂

Anyway, just a quick note before the 25th comes and goes without a little bit of fanfare…

The playoff race in the Western Conference is in a scary place right now. Just last week, the Stars were in 5th all by themselves, and now we’re in a mess with 3 other teams for the 7-10th spots with the losses to Chicago and San Jose over the weekend.

Sarah and I were at the game Saturday against Chicago, and even though we had a great time at the game, the Stars still couldn’t come up with a win. Here’s to hoping to not finish 5th in the conference because a meeting with the Blackhawks would not be pleasurable. Plus, Brenden is NOT ALLOWED to play games against Chicago anymore since both of his big injuries came against the Hawks.

Just a few comments on some things that have been running through my head the past week or so:

I think Fistric is going to get traded at the deadline. I think it’s a weird coincidence that he didn’t get called up until 2 weeks before the deadline. There were definitely occasions before then that we could have used another (big) defenseman.

How nice would it be to get Jeff Halpern back? It’d be great to have a checking line center who could win some faceoffs. I don’t see us needing to get a big-name center to replace Richards since he will be back for the playoffs, and even though we have the cap space, there is a lot of money that’s not counting for the cap that Hicks still has to pay.

My biggest worry? Smitty going to Detroit. It started out as a rumor in the most recent Hockey News, but it’s a very scary thought. Babcock said last year that if the Wings play their style correctly then their goaltender only needs to be average. How scary would they be with a GREAT goalie? I know Smitty is currently out in Tampa for his post-concussion (read: his head hurts from playing for a team with no intelligent defensemen) syndrome, but I have no doubt that he’d play tomorrow for Detroit if he got traded.

Hagman is playing well in Toronto, no surprise there. He got the OT winning goal against the Rangers over the weekend and is on pace to score at least 20 this season. I want to be done complaining about Avery, but how nice would it have been to have resigned Hagman instead of the person (?) who’s sitting in Hartford eating up Tom Hicks’ wallet.

Speaking of Avery, I don’t know if he’ll be going to the Rangers with Tortorella taking over as coach. He’s not going to take crap from anyone, especially a tool like Avery. I read that the Sharks were scouting Avery – I’d love to transfer the poison to another Pacific division team.

Can Patrick Kane STOP CHEWING ON HIS MOUTHGUARD? He looks like a baby out there with a pacifier.

I want Columbus to make the playoffs. I am still a huge Hitchcock fan, and I’d love to see him get in again. And Rick Nash is the most talented player in the NHL with the exception of Ovechkin. Maybe they could do us a favor and knock San Jose or Detroit out of the playoffs?

I feel bad for Montreal – has there ever been a more epic collapse for a team with such high hopes?

For a closer, here is a picture of Sarah and me at the game Saturday. We’ve added a few more pieces to the outfits – I LOVE the Fanatics Scarves! They also make great rally towels 🙂